Sunday, April 22, 2012

Tomorrow is the birth anniversary of James Buchanan (1791), the first movie theater, Koster and Bials Music Hall, opened in New York (1896), the first public school opened in Boston (1635), it is the birth AND death anniversary of William Shakespeare (1564/1616), Max Planck’s birth anniversary (1858-formulator of quantum theory) and it is Shirley Temple Black’s birthday (1928).

Add to Pittsburgh being Gotham City in The Dark Knight Rises, a post-apocalyptic wasteland in The Road, backwoods Kentucky in the TV series Justified and Jody Foster in Silence of the Lambs, we are now going to be the back drop for Producer Chris Moore’s Promised Land staring Matt Damon and John Krasinski (from The Office).  Filming starts on Monday.  The story is about a sales executive, Damon, coming to a small town and questions about the life choises he has made.  And his corporate rival is played by Krasinski.  Moore will be hosting a community screening of The People Speak on April 30 at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont with questions and answers afterward.  The People Speak is a film Point Park University professor Lisa Smith made with Moore that initially brought him to Pittsburgh.  It is based on the work of historian Howard Zinn with contributions by Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Marisa Tomei, Josh Brolin, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Anyone that reads my blog, knows I have a fairly low regard for politicians.  I’ve always pretty much held the judiciary in a pretty high regard.  I may strongly disagree with their opinions, but that’s the nature of opinions.  We all have them.  I like to think that they have the education, experience and integrity to render what they honestly think is right.  There’s been a number of national issues that have come up recently with judges that have caught my eye.  And I have been watching the developments with PA Supreme Court Justice Orie-Melvin and using her sister’s staff for campaigning.  And then there’s Common Pleas President Judge Donna Jo McDaniel.  Her daughter, Lindsay Hildenbrand was working as the judge’s executive assistant and mom promoted her to supervisor of jury operations in November (which included a modest increase). Four months later, Hildenbrand received an eleven percent raise.  One of the highest raises in the court system this year.  This is in a court system that is facing a $3.5M deficit this year.  Judge McDaniel’s son-in-law, Brian Quigley received a promotion in January to assistant director of jury operations (he happens to be married to McDaniels other daughter, Jamie).  Brian received an eleven point nine percent raise.  More than 900 union court workers received a three percent raise.  Deputy Court Administrator Claire Capristo stated the chief judge had nothing to do with the raise and that it was appropriate since some of the people reporting to Hildenbrand made more money than she did.  Sorry, that doesn’t fly with me.  That should have been known before the position was offered and accepted.  Even if this is not nepotism, it sure appears as such.  And with a judge!  Come on McDaniel, come out of your ivory tower offices in the prestigious Frick building and join the real world.

Western PA Conservancy was just honored by Charity Navigator by ranking them number seven out of 5,500 charities reviewed.  This was for using 87% of their budget directly in their programs, clear transparency of finances, growth and longevity (they’ve been around 80 years, the oldest Conservancy in Pennsylvania.)  I spoke of the Conservancy just a few blogs ago.  Besides running Fallingwater, they have assisted in establishing 10 state parks, conserved more than 232,00 acres of natural land, protected or restored 1,500 miles of streams and developed science-based inventories of species, their habits and ecosystems.  Coming soon, you will see the sponsorship of The Parador Inn at the Brighton and California Roads intersection parklet.  🙂  I’ve spoken of Charity Navigator in the past, they’re the ones that consistently rank Brother’s Brother as a great charity that is very transparent and uses a very small portion of donations for overhead.  You can see what their priorities are by just walking down the street from here and seeing their warehouses and offices.  Nothing to brag about.  I love them.

Is it coincidence or is Jessica Walliser a fan of my blog?  She just wrote a very informative article in the Trib about rain gardens.  In my past blog, I had talked about we need landscapers to take up the challenge of figuring out the details of how to build rain gardens since the city now bans placing roof run off in the sewer system.  The Three Rivers Rain Garden Alliance is a non profit comprising of 12 organizations that advocate rain gardens.  Jim Bonner of the Audubon Society of Western PA (a founding member of our alliance) says that as little as 1/10 to 1/4 of an inch of rainfall can push raw sewerage out of our system into our waterways.  Their web site has a wealth of information on it, such as a calculator that tells you the size of garden you will need to handle your homes rainwater runoff.  They also have recommended native plants that do well in these gardens.  Creating a rain garden costs about the same as creating a regular garden-$3-$5 per square foot.  You can even register your garden on the site.  There currently are 63 gardens registered that absorbs 100,000 gallons of water each time it rains.  Pretty impressive.

Another chapter of one of my favorite charities has closed.  The judge threw out the lawsuit against Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute, for exaggerating in his book Three Cups of Tea.  I don’t care whether he fell off a cliff and was rescued by some Sherpa, I don’t care if he personally had to carry a forty foot iron beam up the Himalayas by himself or if he needed to part the roaring waters of some river to save a kitten.  The work he does is significant and important.  Shame on Sixty Minutes for creating a mountain out of a mole hill to get ratings.

Weather persons, run to the store and get supplies, super snow storm coming this evening.  Feet and feet of snow with a projected low of 34.  Please.  Miserable, but not the end of the world.  Keep warm and dry,

ed